A doctor has urged parents to be wary of four key symptoms. According to the expert, these could be warning signs of a chronic condition.

Parents have been advised by a medical professional to stay vigilant for four specific symptoms that may signal a long-term health issue. This advice comes from an expert who highlights the importance of recognizing potential indicators of diabetes in children.

Through a TikTok video, NHS physician Dr. Suraj Kukadia, also known online as Dr. Sooj, shared his insights on signs that might suggest type 1 diabetes in youngsters, rather than type 2. His guidance aims to inform parents of what to watch for in their children.

Addressing his audience of over 300,000 followers, he posed the question: “Does your child become unusually sleepy after meals? Are you concerned about their blood sugar levels, suspecting diabetes?” He emphasized that while these concerns are common among parents, they don’t typically align with the classic symptoms leading to a diabetes diagnosis.

Drawing from his professional encounters, Dr. Kukadia noted, “Parents often approach me with these concerns regarding their five to ten-year-old children, fearing diabetes.” He clarified that diabetes results from either insulin resistance or insufficient insulin production, and it’s quite rare for a child to develop type 2 diabetes due to insulin resistance.

“However, diabetes happens when we either have insulin resistance or we’re not producing enough insulin. It would be very unlikely for a child to develop type 2 diabetes, which means that they are resistant to insulin.

“It’s not impossible, but it is very unlikely.” Type 2 diabetes is typically caused by lifestyle factors such as being overweight or not exercising enough, but can also be genetic.

However, it is not exactly known what causes type 1. Dr Sooj continued: “What is more likely is type 1 diabetes, which is where the body is just not producing enough insulin, usually because of an autoimmune condition where the pancreas has been attacked and it is not producing enough insulin.

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“Now if someone were to have diabetes, typically their blood sugars are high because they don’t have enough insulin or the insulin isn’t working well enough to be able to bring their blood sugars down.

“So when parents come in with this concern, it’s very unlikely that it’s going to be diabetes because what they are describing is a post-prandial sleepiness, which is just where if you have a really high carb meal, you’ll probably become a bit sleepy afterwards. So we need to do some education around diet, lifestyle, making sure we’re sleeping well enough at night.”

The four symptoms

However, he listed four concerning symptoms that could mean your child has type 1 diabetes. Dr Sooj said: “So I think it’s really important for us to talk about the ‘four T’s’ of type 1 diabetes, which are the four main symptoms that we look out for if we’re worried about type 1 diabetes in a child.”

He explained: “Tired – they’ll be tired all the time. Not just after a meal but they would be tired all the time despite being well rested.

“Toilet – they’ll be peeing a lot, they’ll be thirsty, they’ll be drinking loads. And they’ll be losing weight, so they’ll be thinner.

“Those are the four T’s that guide us to consider type 1 diabetes in a child.” The NHS website also lists these as the four “most common” symptoms of diabetes in both adults and children.

The health body says you should ask for an “urgent” GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you or your child has any symptoms of diabetes.

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